Yorkshire Water is planning to implement parking charges at four of its reservoirs across the region – Fewston, Swinsty and Thruscross in North Yorkshire and Langsett in South Yorkshire.
Planning permission will be sought for the parking meters this month and, if approved, will be installed for a trial period later this year.
Income raised through parking tariffs will be reinvested across Yorkshire Water’s sites to deliver nature conservation, countryside management and improvement of facilities at reservoir sites.
The charges will also contribute towards the first ever in-house Yorkshire Water ranger team, which will include nine area rangers to ensure visitors have a positive experience on site, complete maintenance and tackle anti-social behaviour which poses a threat to people, wildlife and the environment.
Alastair Harvey, lead countryside advisor at Yorkshire Water said:
We know how important our sites are to local communities and visitors alike. We have thought long and hard about the way people use our sites before implementing this trial, as well as considering approaches at similar sites around the country. We believe a small parking fee and increased security will help to dissuade anti-social behaviour, such as fly-tipping, at our sites but also have a long-term positive impact in terms of the projects we can deliver in the future.
Our brand-new, in-house ranger team will be supported as a direct result of introducing these charges and we have a wide range of exciting conservation, community and facilities enhancements lined up for the future.
“We are collaborating with local authorities and local stakeholders to ensure the introduction of these tariffs causes minimal disruption and we will be working hard to ensure all our visitors are aware of the charges before they arrive at our sites.”
Proposed tariffs include:
- 1 hour – £1
- 2 hours – £2
- 6 hours – £3
- All day – £5
- Annual pass – £30
Bransby Wilson Parking Solutions have been selected to operate the parking meters. ANPR cameras will be installed at the sites and visitors will be able to pay via card payment on site, the Ring Go app and by telephone. Visitors without means to pay with them can call the phoneline later in the day to pay.
This will undoubtedly reduce visitor numbers are there is a large number of families who are really struggling with their finances at present. Many can’t afford to heat their homes, buy petrol for travelling to work, and put food on the table. Shameful timing! You should be ashamed.
A better solution would be to ask for donations from people who can afford to pay.
That will ruin everbodies weekend then.
Nobody will pay and just park anywhere.
Bad idea Yorkshire Water !!!
I’ve already had to cut down my reservoir visits due to fuel cost, and now a parking fee!
£1 would be OK – but £3 or more ! Talk about taking away the relaxation element as you have to race back to the car.
The fee categories/periods are interesting too as it takes most people more than 2h to walk round all but Swinsty.
Will the annual pass be available at a pro-rata rate for the trial period (how long is the trial period?) and will it cover all the affected reservoirs or will you have to purchase one per reservoir?
Phone signal is patchy at Thruscross so that will be a problem.
Good questions, nice to see a response from Yorkshire water
What about disabled visitors
does this apply to anglers this charge
Disgusting. Cars will now park on all the lanes and passing places .Chaos will upon all of us who like to walk these wonderful areas. So we cannot use cash on the Machines so what about honest people like myself who have no card. Greed Greed Greed. You should be ashamed.
What about provision for Blue Badge (disabled), holders?
Remember when the car parks were closed during lockdown? The road was clogged up with parked cars. This will just make the areas roads dangerous
I don’t mind paying annually , maybe a few rubbish bins would be nice , not one single bin around either res .
Absolutely disgraceful that these charges has been introduced, not to mention bad timing.
But what difference will it make to a big corporate company that earns millions in profits that not all people cannot afford these charges but need this space for physical and mental health.
Shame on you Yorkshire Water!
Yorkshire Water is owned by Kelda Holdings based in Jersey, the company provides water supply to customers in West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire.
They waste an incredible 295.2 million litres of water per day!
Despite this, their CEO Richard Flint was paid a staggering £932,000 in 2018
Shareholders took £412 million in profits between 2013-2017
Well said. I had a leak at home where water was gushing out and it took Yorkshire Water over three weeks to fix it
Presumably Yorkshire Water did not dare have a consultation on this as they would expect an overwhelming vote against. If they are so convinced it is a good idea open a public consultation and agree to be bound by the result. Like everyone else I will find somewhere to park on the road instead. The implication that YW cannot introduce the Ranger services without car park charges is wrong. Those services are long overdue and should be funded out of the excessive profits that this private company makes. The health benefits of taking regular exercise are well known but clearly YW is happy for us to lose this valuable option and then clog up the NHS when we cannot keep well. Shame on them
This is not a good idea for all the reasons mentioned above. But the visual pollution needs to be considered too in an area of outstanding beauty which will be blighted by overhead gantries and other paraphernalia not to mention parked cars on verges left by people wishing to avoid the payment. The amount raised at the expense of the visual environment is minimal compared to the multi million pound turnover of Yorkshire Water. This is not acceptable.
I go to swinsty and fewston reservoirs frequently. I was saddened to see the trees being cut down to make more parking but seeing people park quite frankly like complete idiots at times I thought this can only be a good thing.
I’m not surprised there is going to be a parking charge. I would like to see some evidence of the funds being used when it is introduced. Otherwise I’m happy to pay … you cant expect places to be maintained for nothing and people deserve to be paid properly for it.
It’s time the water supply industry was re-nationalised to provide a service for the public rather than profits for a few and huge salaries for directors who have no regard for the public who pay their wages.
Wow. They pick now to do this. Cost of living and all that. How out of touch are they. They need to take a long hard look at this and think whether it is really the right time. Hopefully they will see sense and realise that No, it certainly is not. They ought to be ashamed of themselves for their timing.
I will most certainly park and clutter the road; rather than pay twice (once in my bill, and again at the parking meter).
YWA right now have a severe water shortage and a hosepipe ban, …
… yet they have just finished dimantling the 2 Beaver Dyke reservoirs and the 2 Oakdale reservoirs (and maybe others).
Crazy crew !
They seem to have no idea about public relations. They project themselves very, very poorly.
Very reasonable charges to park in such a delightful area. Far less costly than town and city centres, therefore, I don’t mind paying, and will probably purchase an annual permit.
A disgrace after visiting the reservoirs on a regular basis for more than 50 years you now want to charge. This will stop many regular visitors attending the reservoirs. Shame on you Yorkshire Water.
Disgraceful we are not surprised as it is run by yorkshire water we will not be paying
Something pretty sad about a country when you can’t even go for a walk around a local reservoir managed by a corporation who supplies water to that same local population without having to make payment to park your car.
This united kingdom is complete broken, it’s getting beyond a joke, think I might buy a tractor and park on the road like everyone else.
The parking charges a meant to be for a trial period, although they seem very unclear about when it ends. Any idea how the assessment will be made. How will they know how many of us no longer going there?